Houston man who shed 241 pounds shares weight-loss tips

A Missouri City man auditioned for the show "The Biggest Loser." He thought he had a good shot at it because he weighed 536 pounds. He wasn't chosen but now he says he's glad because he went on to lose 241 pounds -- on his own -- and he did it the old fashioned way.

Bunny Woods used to wear size 62.

"When I look at pictures now I think, 'Oh my god, did I really look that way?'" Woods said.

It started as a weight-loss contest at work.

"It was about two weeks after the first weigh in and I lost 17.9 pounds, it did something to me. And it was just overwhelming. I was just crying and called my coworkers and thanked them for pushing me to do the contest," he said.

"After eight weeks, I lost 59.4 pounds and I just kept going," Woods said.

And the day we arrived to interview him, he'd lost 241 pounds, and not with surgery but the old fashioned way -- diet and exercise.

Woods learned to cook. One lunch he makes is a grilled shrimp salad with baby spinach, golden tomatoes, red bell peppers, and a drizzle of tiger sauce, with water. And this is what lunch used to be:

"Spicy chicken sandwich with bacon cheddar wedges with extra cheese sauce and a large coke," he said. "This is like 480 calories and this is like 2,000-plus calories."

Now he consumes a max of 2,000 calories a day, and is a regular at the gym, working out twice a day.

Now, he can fit two people into his original 62 pant size. The goal now is to lose 70 more pounds, and when he's told he's an inspiration, Woods likes to say:

"I can be your inspiration but you have to be your own willpower," he said.

What one change made the biggest difference? Woods says when he started cooking and stopped eating fast food. He also substituted water for extra large sodas he used to drink.